Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial

The Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial is a 42-acre (17 ha) World War I cemetery in Belleau, Northern France. It is located at the foot of the hill where the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought, with many American fatalities. The cemetery also contains burials from the Battle of Château-Thierry, later that summer.

Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial
American Battle Monuments Commission
Tombstones and the memorial chapel
Used for those deceased 1918
Established1918
Location49°04′46″N 03°17′29″E
near 
Château-Thierry, France
Designed byCram & Ferguson of Boston, Ma. (Monument)
•Alfred Bottiau, Paris, France (Figures)
Total burials2,289 plus 1,060 commemorated
Unknowns
250
Burials by nation
United States
Burials by war
Statistics source: ABMC

The site is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, and its dedication ceremony was held on Memorial Day, May 30, 1937. Among those buried there are Medal of Honor recipient Weedon Osborne.

The grounds include both the Château-Thierry American Monument and a monument to US Marines.

Cemetery

The cemetery itself is laid out in the form of the capital letter T, with the Memorial Chapel crowning the T-shape on a small hill to south, the cross-bars making up the two burial plots and the pathway leading into the cemetery making up the stem of the letter-shape.

Each of the two burial plots (Plot A and Plot B) contain 13 rows of headstones, which consist of either Stars of David or Latin crosses. There are 2,289 burials in the cemetery, 250 of which contain unknown remains.[1]

Memorial Chapel

The Memorial Chapel is built over the site of front-line battle trenches dug in defense of Belleau Wood. When entering the Memorial Chapel, one can see on the wall to the right a small hole that was made by a passing German anti-tank gun. Looking above the inside entrance door, one will see the following inscription:

THE NAMES RECORDED ON THESE WALLS ARE THOSE OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THIS REGION AND WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES.

The names of 1,060 soldiers missing in action are inscribed on the Chapel's walls.

Notable burials

World War I centenary

During centenary commemorations of the end of World War I, a planned visit by the sitting U.S. president Donald Trump was cancelled,[3] prompting widespread derision.[4]

  • Entrance gate, 1923
  • U.S. Marines and French soldiers during the 93rd anniversary service of the Battle for Belleau Wood in 2011.

See also

References
  1. Cemetery booklet, ABMC
  2. Walking in footsteps of WWI Marines
  3. White House decision to cancel veterans' cemetery visit in France creates a storm of its own. NBC News, November 10, 2018.
  4. Trump skipped a U.S. cemetery visit abroad, the French army trolled him for avoiding the rain. Washington Post, November 12, 2018.
  • Sledge, Michael (2005). Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 204. ISBN 9780231509374. OCLC 60527603.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document: "Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, American Battle Monuments Commission".

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